MOZART: REQUIEM, K.626

Soloists & Choirs; Lucerne Festival
Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

Accentus ACC20258

(DVD)

The opening concert of last year’s Lucerne
Festival was
clearly a glittering affair, and Mozart’s final
masterpiece
may have seemed an odd choice. As it is, Abbado
coaxes from his singers and players a performance
of the most sublime
beauty; perhaps too much beauty, as if the work’s
rough corners have
been ironed out. Soloists (Sara Mingardo and René
Pape especially) are
beyond reproach, and Accentus have captured the
occasion with the finest
possible picture and sound.